Sporting briefs...

Howard: Everton have completed a deal with Manchester United to sign American goalkeeper Tim Howard on a permanent basis, the Premier League club said yesterday. The 27-year-old, already on loan at Everton, has committed his long-term future to the club with a five-year deal that will run until 2012.

Silvinho: Barcelona full-back Silvinho has been given the all-clear by the club's medical staff after recovering from a muscle strain in his right leg. The Brazilian will now be available for the weekend's league match against Valencia as well as for next week's Champions League last 16 match at home to Liverpool.

Kirkland: Wigan Athletic's England goalkeeper Chris Kirkland faces up to six weeks out after tearing a ligament in his thumb during training. The 25-year-old former Liverpool keeper has a long history of injury problems.

Ailton: Serbian champions Red Star Belgrade have loaned their Brazilian striker Ailton to Swiss side Grasshoppers Zurich. The unsettled former Germany player of the year, who won the Bundesliga title with Werder Bremen in 2004, scored only four goals in 13 appearances for Red Star after arriving from Hamburg.

Better safe: Spartak Moscow will allow more than eight hours to get to their UEFA Cup match against Celta Vigo at their own Luzhniki Olympic stadium today after getting stuck in traffic for another European game last October. Then, Spartak nearly missed the start of their Champions League encounter against Inter after their bus ground to a halt on Moscow's notoriously congested roads, forcing the team to use the metro. "We'll leave for the stadium early in the morning," a senior Spartak official was quoted as saying by the Russian media.

CSKA bonus: CSKA Sofia's players will be rewarded with a one million euro bonus if they win the Bulgarian league title this season, the club's chairman said. The 30-times Bulgarian champions, bought last December by Indian steel magnate Pramod Mittal, are second with 37 points from 15 matches, two points behind city rivals Levski. The league resumes on March 2 after its mid-season break.

Snooker: Welsh Open second round results - Murphy bt Cope 5-0; Hendry bt Woollaston 5-2; Robertson bt Holt 5-2; O' Sullivan bt McCulloch 5-1; Harold bt Ebdon 5-4; Hamilton bt Perry 5-4; Dott bt Greene 5-3; Davis bt Gilbert 5-0; Judge bt Hawkins 5-2; Burnett bt Williams 5-4.